Nikki Talley set to perform with husband Jason Sharp at Nu-Way

Friday

May 17, 2013 at 3:28 PM

The first week of May, Nikki Talley and her husband Jason Sharp, hit the road for a ramble through the south and up into New England.

Jeremy L. C. JonesFor 85-26.com

The first week of May, Nikki Talley and her husband Jason Sharp, hit the road for a ramble through the south and up into New England. They play more than forty shows in the next few months. The Asheville-based duo lives in their van, Blue Bell, and has been touring full-time for almost a year and a half.

“Jason and I have been together for 14 years and I’ve been off and on touring, doing little things, pretty regional,” said Talley. “I would sometimes take certain players with me, a pianist and stuff like that. But, generally I’d do stuff solo. It just wasn’t fun. Nothing’s fun on the tour unless you can share it with someone you love and care about."

Talley alternates between guitar and banjo. Her voice is big and powerful and full of the mountains. Sharp plays guitar and bass and he occasionally sings harmony.

“Jason’s playing on a 57-year-old Gibson that we had up on the mountain,” said Talley. “It was a dusty old thing in the closet. He brought that back to life. It was my mom’s. It’s almost like we’re taking our family with us.”

Sharp wasn’t a professional musician a year and a half ago. He played in high school, “doing the metal band thing,” but music wasn’t his job. He played for the fun and love of it.

“He got sick of the cubicle life and I was getting a little restless,” said Talley. “Wasn’t sure which path I was ready to go down. Buy a house and have babies or was there still this little nomad thing going on with me, wanting to travel and see stuff and pursue music.”

More and more, bands are crowd-sourcing their albums. Talley and Sharp had a different idea.

“I’ve never seen anybody do a Kickstarter for a tour van,” said Talley. “I wondered, ‘Will that be legit? Will people get on board with that?’ We ended up raising over $9,000 and it was just insane. As we got closer and closer to the goal, I was like, ‘I might actually have to quit my job!’”

That was January of 2012.

“We had people who believed in us and wanted to see us take our music further,” said Talley. “We gave up the lease to our apartment. I say our home base is in the mountains but we literally do not have a house or even a shed we call our own.”

They’ve been on the road full time since then.

“We took a leap of faith and the net that caught us was made by human hands,” said Talley. “Our leap of faith was blind but we really saw the awesome side of humanity.”

Though Talley and Sharp are prepared to sleep in Blue Bell, which is equipped with a bed and an external battery for lights and other amenities, they often end up being staying with fans.

“People have taken us into their homes,” said Talley. “There’re a lot of people who are curious and think this lifestyle is a fantastical thing. They kind of want to be a part of it and peek into. We’ve met some really awesome hosts and hostesses. For a while there, we actually didn’t sleep in Blue Bell at all because so many people wanted to take us in. There’re always interesting people who will let you in their house at three in the morning!’”

The direct support from their fans put them on the road for 180 shows in the first year. They were able to spend a year finding out what worked and what didn’t.

“It’s just freed us up and made us want to be better,” said Talley. “Better musically and just better on stage. All the support we get just makes us want to be better. We want people to be proud that they’re supporting what we’re doing.”

It’s shaded her songs, too.

“With the songs I’ve been writing lately, you can tell that I’ve been feeling the love,” said Talley. “I’m not an angry 20 year-old, writing self- discovery songs anymore. I have a song called, ‘It Wouldn’t Be the Same without You Here.’ I initially wrote it for my husband, but I always dedicate it to the people off the stage. It wouldn’t be the same without y’all.”

Fresh out of the Carolina Mountains, Talley’s voice has seasoned well on the road. Her voice is both gritty and wondrous, and offers listeners the sort of thrill you get standing on a cliff’s edge or beholding a view from a mountaintop. She sings ballads about women who are love struck, heart-broken, and willing to take extreme leaps of faith, just like she did.